Ava

‘’We need to go, now!’’

‘’What are doing here?’’ To say I am surprised to suddenly have Sachihiro next to me would be a gross understatement but there is no way I can truly express the depth of my shock except for being bugged eyed as I ask the reflective stupid question.

He grabs my arm with a vice grip, the stubborn determination set in his eyes all the evidence I need that I won’t get a chance to face the Ancient running rickshaw through our ranks even with the help of the dwarves, fae, orcs and elves with their varied unique and longer established abilities that we expected to bolster our more recent and untested Awakenings.

‘’We need to go, where are the others?’’ He asks looking around nodding to y teammates who are also looking on edged with weapons bared as none of us seem to have noticed his approach.

Before I can even respond he nods to himself and starts jogging towards the back of the lines where I know most of his family to be as was planned whenever there is an emergency or fight to be had.

‘’Fuck, if you’re coming with us then you better come now.’’ I say looking at Onimorē , Jorri and Sema in the eye like I know what the fuck is going on. Then I’m off after Sachi, running through the woods securing my poleaxe on my back without losing stride, where the fuck did he come from how the fuck did he get here and why oh why does he have to come back before I get a chance to test myself against an Ancient I watched turn aside Cerceria’s best attack as easily as turning a hand.

‘’We’re all meeting where Kuyoki is and will leave within 5 minutes, Saya get a map from the Scout-Chiefs if they’ll spare one, we are heading north-east in all speed, I’ll inform the Warchief’s Aids of our departure.’’ Sachi sends, seemingly to everyone of his family because I see where Saya and her team move from where they were watching the fight even as Sachi heads directly towards the War-Chief’s base of planning, is he faster or am I not being serious enough in pursuit?

‘’What the fuck is going on?’’ Sema asks loudly to be heard over the sounds of battle striding behind me with spear and shield still in hand. I’m grateful for her presence and a moment later I watch Onimorē crests the hill from behind some trees and I sigh a quiet sigh of relief to have the big man following me despite the epic fight still going on back there. The sweet sounds of struggle are falling behind but even this far tuffs of blasted earth rain around gently like ash, no one but the Scouts paying attention to the movements of the few of us moving away from the battle instead of towards as is natural, but then the Scouts watch everything.

‘’We are leaving, I hope you have all you need with you,’’ is all I say to Sema. How the fuck am I supposed to know what’s going on, we’ve been together day in and day out since we started this journey three months back and she thinks I suddenly have answers to such a twist of fate?

I head towards Victor’s mini war-band, though he initially agreed to come with us to Pangaea that was before we had had such a tantalizing taste of battle and I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull him away from this fight as easily as I did Sema and Onimorē, it currently seems Jorri has chosen to stay and fight. Smart, id do the same had I the option of abandoning my family in these snake infested lands of the Sandersonian mages.

Eluna tries to bar my way, ''where do you think you're going so fast?'' she says holding up a hand, I channel chakra through me as I move. I'm under her startled dagger swip my foot behind her leg my hand pushing her face down. I'm moving again leaving her in the dust, I've never liked how she looks at me.

Soon enough I’m face to face with Victor, a pissed but largely unruffled Eluna stands at his side fuming silently with sparkling eyes in a display of control I frankly thought beyond her.

‘’So Sachihiro is back and he wants to leave now, in the middle of all this?’’ Victor gestures towards where the battle is still ongoing not having lost an ounce of momentum since it started almost an hour ago. Even I’m captivated by the sight of the Ancient Beast ravaging through our warriors almost soon as we assemble before it, I try my best not to show my own eagerness for a turn but think I fail as Victor’s lips curls in an ugly scowl. Ugly only in that it promises pain but the handsome visage of the Norse princeling remains unmarred even when any other person would look like a villain or some such. Gods, I spent too much time as an ambassadorial guard in Sandoria, I’m starting to think like them.

‘’Yes,’’ I manage to say with a slight nod that helps me hide my eyes so as not to reveal my own confusion and growing irritation. ‘’Are you coming or not?’’

‘’Of course we’re not fucking coming, can’t you see that thing is gonna come through this way?’’ Eluna bristles from behind Victor’s shoulder, somehow her outrage calms me some. I smirk but ignore her as my eyes stay on Victor.

I don’t know what his obsession with Sachi is but ever since he lost a duel to a Sachihiro fresh from the mountains all those years ago he has been trying to insinuate himself silently into the idiot’s life. I think he thinks Sachi is some sort of mad warrior genius or blessed by the gods or something because even now while any other Barbarian would dismiss me out of hand for the glory of the fight in front of me Victor is clearly torn, struggling with the decision. He looks at the warrior to his left, Arvid I think his name is, a sneaky fellow probably assigned by Chief Stomm to make sure Victor’s death is recorded if it happens in this campaign. I know how obsessed the Norse are with being remembered.

‘’We will catch up,’’ is the answer I eventually get, frankly that's better than I had hoped for so I nod my assent and am jogging down the hill through the woods between the many assembled Paradisian warriors still waiting their turn for the honour of facing an Ancient in its turf. If I could send I wouldn’t need to trudge all this way up here but the skill has so far eluded me though even little Iki has managed to learn to some extent.

I double check the areas I expect the little rascals to be if they had snuck in closer to watch the battle and sure enough I find a wide eyed Serenity straddling atop Boari’s shoulders holding tightly to his brown locks. I scoop her up and salute the warrior, a friend of Om’s from the times they killed Sandersonians together away back when.

‘’Don’t punish her too harshly,’’ a graff voice from behind me but I’m already wondering if I have missed anyone in my haste but it’s not like Sachi would leave any of his kids behind, right?

‘’Anyone else off somewhere they shouldn’t be?’’ I ask the little rascal tucked under my arm as we head towards the camp followers. She shakes her head vigorously as expected while looking up at me with what should be innocent eyes of an adorable seven year old but I’ve long since gotten wise the ways of the van Damage clan.

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I find them gathered and drop my package on the soggy ground who is up and off to join the huddle of siblings smothering Sachihiro with undisguised affection. I snort, the grin on my own face at the sight doesn’t mean I've been affected by their silly ways and open displays of affection at all. ‘’Everyone here?’’ I ask the first person I turn to who is actually the ever clueless and constantly nervous one from Earth that’s friends with Saya’s mate.

‘’Of the little kids only Kira sn’t accounted for but Mira is off to find her, ahh... Michael and Saya are still not back from collecting whatever maps they are trying to scrounge up. Damage, Andrew, Hannah and Divina are already heading the way Sachi pointed out checking the safest route of passage,’’ he says pointing east, my eyes twitch in surprise and finding intelligent answers from the nervous one. ‘’Shea, Isis and Sirgur are still not back from the front yet, hold on there comes Sirgur.’’

I nod, patting him on the shoulder with approval. Maybe it wouldn’t be waste of my time to fuck this one when I get the occasion, see what he can do away from prying eyes, properly gauge his talents. I doubt he will ever be much of a warrior all things considered but he did manage to survive induction into Paradisum and clearly is very observant even with all this confusion. He blushes crimson, I grin pleasantly, I could grow him some, it will be fun.

Mira is back holding a thoroughly miserable and filthy looking Kira by the scruff of her neck roughly before throwing her unceremoniously at the feet of her father who is now kissing and hugging his teenaged children. I shake my head at the sight, still not used to Sachi is this position, Ikigai standing close to her father’s shoulder like a proud sentinel. It’s all madness really, even Amanda gets an affectionate hug as old as she is but with her father Brian down in Paradisum all these years Sachi is the father she has grown up with since.

‘’Okay, lets go if we’re going!’’ I say when I notice a sappy eyed Ingwe getting ready to smother Sachi between those large breasts, I don’t have the patience to watch more rounds of kissing and hugging from grown ass women that should know better. Sachi grins that little grin of his and is introducing us to a man I hadn’t even noticed while all this was going on.

‘’This is Toura from the Conclave, he will help us get where we need to be.’’

‘’I cannot take this many, and you felt what I felt, I don’t know if the paths are safe.’’ The tall skinny person says, his eyes iridescent in strange whirling patterns like he’s looking at something far off in the distance.

‘’It is because I felt what I felt and saw what I saw that I know you can carry all of us, only shield the children if you are too strained, the rest of us will make due anyway we can.’’

‘’Are you mad, you’d be ripped to shreds within seconds,’’ the man says looking at Sachi with his sightless creepy eyes sternly.

‘’We will do what we must, so long as you can shield all the children we can make it most of the way, is the Ancient’s blessing still upon us?’’ Sachi asks and I’m glad I’m not the only one frustrated by not knowing what the fuck they are talking about as Mira cuts between them with a sizzling gust of air that scratches a furrow in the ground.

‘’What the fuck are you talking about?’’ She asks, fists on hips taping her leg like she does when facing down one of her children. I grin, I’m not sure why she and I aren’t better friends, but I would love to fight her at some point.

‘’The way is clear,’’ Damage’s sending reaches us and I grumble. Damage is a warrior first and a true Barbarian unlike his children and most in his family, but even he has learnt the ‘subtle’ art of sending somehow.

‘’We will talk later, for now we travel the normal way through the forest, there is a stream we will need to cross about 30 kilometres away. I hope everyone is rested because we will not stop until we have reached a set of caves about 130km’s through the woods at the edge of another Ancient’s claimed lands, they are occupied but I think we can displace whatever creature calls them home for a few hours of rest. We will talk properly then, and it will be up to Toura to get us past that Ancient without all getting killed,’’ Sachi says with a stern unwavering look to the strange man with him.

‘’How do you know all this?’’ Cicilia asks, the only true Barbarian mate Sachi has though the girl standing behind her playing meek may loosely be called a Barbarian as well, not sure how much of a mate Sachi considers her though. I'm ready to kill her at the slightest sign...

‘’For now let’s just say I had a view from above,’’ he gives his half assed response already turning his attention to Damage and Divina up ahead. ‘’What formation do we take?’’ he sends clearly for all of us to hear but the response is apparently only for him.

‘’We will take snake formation, the-‘’

‘’I’m staying.’’

‘’What?’’ Sachi is not the only one surprised but Sirgur has a stubborn set to his mouth I know well from associating with this family.

‘’I’m staying, I’m sorry but-‘’

‘’Very well,’’ Sachi says disrupting him. ‘’Saya’s team will take point, they are the most experienced at surveying unknown territory, we will all take our lead from them for this leg of the journey. Da, Gaia, Cici, you Selah are at the rear, the rest of us will be at the body with Iki, Michael, Edward, Mira and I surveying the flanks. Mirabalis, I want you to obscure our passage anyway you can, Esuas and Aunt Hellen, you’re at the neck, anything too much for Mira and her team you smash it.’’ He shares a look with Toma but says nothing to the sour dwarf woman, even in her wealth the woman has few kind words for anyone.

Just then Mira and her new mate arrive with a limping dirty fae in tow, Shea and Isis accompanied by a young dark skinned dawn elf man I don’t recognise also arrive. It’s another quick exchange of greetings and with a few words to ensure all the kids still remember their places in snake formation we are off unceremoniously.

I look back, the sounds of the ongoing struggle in the distance still calling to me, I’m not the only one that looks back. There is something irreverent about running away from a fight while my tribesmen stay, something that has a lump fuming in my chest that stirs the ever present Rage to the fore. Sachi doesn’t look back, he has changed a lot since we first met but this is the biggest of changes I feel, he doesn’t look back.

*

Wading through the thick sludge that constitutes the Awayan swamp is not a pleasant experience for any of us, even the ever enthusiastic Hannah is frowning deeply as she holds her spear up with the muddy water at breast level making passage a test of endurance, balance and the strength of our stomachs. It smells, but that is not something any of us can really counteract and so we endure it like we’ve endured many other uncomfortable experiences since we started this exodus all those ten-days ago. I’m starting to think Sachi is winging it and actually has no idea what he has gotten us into or where we are going but to voice doubt at this point would be counterproductive and so I keep my mouth shut and trudge forward regardless of whether or not we are completely lost.

There are a lot of us making this excursion through the wilds of Sandoria, more than I thought would ever listen to my eccentric husband and take part in this crazy trip but for whatever reasons a lot of his friends trust him as much as his family does. From many different angles numerous times in many ways as his wives we’ve asked him why we need to be in the Alderman Foothills for whatever it is that is supposed to happen but none of us has been able to get a clear answer from the man. To the extent that I’m surprised Divina and his Damage have gone along with this charade as long as they have but it’s too late now.

We’re definitely too far to ever go anywhere but forward regardless of what might await us on the other side of this stinky swamp. Shea has an ugly grimace on her face, Lysandra on her shoulders seemly enjoying herself. Anya on Damage is also as happy as a clam in water but everyone else seems to be thoroughly miserable as most of us use aura to keep the finger sized mosquitoes and blood sucking leaches from having their way with us.

‘’Eeeh!’’ is all I hear before Kiera disappears with a pop of a muddy bubbles, dragged under by some unseen creature.

A spear thrust from Vuyo, a thrown javelin from Gaia, an uplifting hand from Helen and she surfaces drenched and embarrassed but mostly unharmed. I smirk, at the sight of the slimy water dripping from her hair as she shivers uncomfortably, and grabbing onto Helen’s arm as we wade through the uncomfortable place.